OHS Freshmen Newsletter
December 2021
December HIGHLIGHTS IN THE COUNSELING CENTER
Happy Holidays
- On-going student support as needed
- Calming Room (Need a mental health break?)
- Getting ready for exams... You can P.A.S.S (Test strategies & dealing with test anxiety)
- College Planning for 9th Graders
Need a Mental Health Break?
If you are in emotional distress, please ask your teacher for a hall pass to come to the calming room. The goal of of the calming room is to give a student an "emotional break" so that they can distress and return to the classroom to learn. Therefore we reccomend students to use the room for a 10-15 minute break. If you are needing a longer break, your counselor will consult with you.
Please note the room will be monitored by the counseling staff, and we will keep track of students. Therefore, we are asking every student to use the room wisely to take care of your mental health needs.
Self-Care for the Winter Months Ahead....
If you’re pulling out the winter coats and cozy sweaters...and a little worried about how you’ll handle the days getting shorter and temperatures drop, you’re not alone. But while winter might be cold and chilly this year, there are some strategies you can use to cope with stress and keep your spirits up:
Build Your Self Care Toolkit
You might not be able to avoid stress, but you can plan ahead for it. You can build your own self care kit right in the comfort of your home. Make a list of quick stress reduction techniques that you know work for you. This might include mindfulness techniques, breathing exercises, favorite songs, short exercise videos or calming activities like playing with a pet. That way, you’ll all have easy strategies ready to turn to in tough moments.
We suggest to create intentional time and space in your day to care for yourself. Feel free to use some of our ideas below as you craft your own self-care toolkit.
For Your Body:
- Take a shower
- Enjoy a bubble bath
- Give yourself a facial(link is external)
- Take a power nap
Supportive & Spiritual:
- Write a love letter to yourself
- Wear a dress or clothing that makes you feel great
- Share lunch/dinner virtually with a friend
- Read an uplifting book
- Begin a gratitude or reflection journal
- Make a list of positive affirmations and say them out loud
- List your accomplishments
Creative & Fun:
- Cook a comforting or fancy meal
- Write a poem
- Sew, knit, crochet, or cross-stitch
- Try a new recipe
- Color(link is external)
- Watch a stand-up performance
- Bake and share with neighbors
Active:
- Go for a short walk, or make it a photo-walk
- Do a power-pose
- Jump on a trampoline or bounce on an exercise ball
- Do yard work
- Walk your dog
Intellectual:
- Solve a logic puzzle
- Do a crossword puzzle, word search, or Sudoku
- Go on a virtual tour(link is external)
- Read a book; listen to an audio book
Random:
- Start a home improvement project
- Garden; plant flowers or herbs
- Stargaze or cloud-watch
- Declutter a room or cabinet; organize your spice cabinet
You Can P.A.S.S.
As we all may know, exams are coming right around the corner (shortly after winter break). Test anxiety is a problem frequently experienced by students. Almost every student who takes a test feels some anxiety, but for some, the feeling is so intense that it affects their performance - with serious results. Test anxiety can be managed, if you understand what causes it. To help you gain control of your test anxiety, use the P.A.S.S. method described below
(P)reparation for Tests
Test anxiety is caused in large part by inadequate or ineffective exam preparation. If you do not use effective study strategies, you will not have reviewed and understood the course information sufficiently to perform well on the test. Consider taking USU 1730, Strategies for Academic Success or come to the Academic Resource Center for additional information and assistance to improve your study skills. Additional actions you can take to prepare effectively for tests include:
- Talk to your teacher. Ask for suggestions on how to study for his/her tests.
- Ask your teacher what material will be covered on the test. Ask about the test format. Will it be essay, objective, fill-in-the-blank?
- Ask for help during tutoring or 5th period.
- Join a serious study group. Practice by writing and taking your own tests.
- Review your lecture notes daily. Clarify material you don’t understand with your teacher, study group, SI, or tutor.
- Review previous tests. Ask your teacher if he/ she makes previous tests available. The more you can know about what to expect on a test, the more prepared you will be and the less anxious you will feel.
- Do Not Cram for tests. Cramming is only minimally effective for getting good grades, but a great way to increase your anxiety beyond control!
(A)ssess Sources of Anxiety
Part of the problem with test anxiety is a vicious cycle of fear-avoidance-more fear. It is possible that at one time in your prior school experiences you performed poorly on a test. As a result, you became fearful of tests because they meant negative things like failure, ridicule, scolding, etc. To deal with your fear, you avoided tests, resulting in poor preparation, poor performance, and increased fear about tests (“I never do well on tests!”). Because of a few unfortunate experiences, you have built your anxiety to a level that almost ensures you will do poorly on tests.
You must identify the sources of your test anxiety before you can begin to eliminate or reduce their power over you. You have just read about how to improve your study skills so you can prepare more effectively. The other major sources of test anxiety are your negative thoughts and unrealistic expectations.
Identify the thoughts that increase your anxiety. Thoughts can make you frantic by creating images of catastrophic scenarios, such as: “I’ll never be able to do this.”; “If I don’t at least get a ‘C’ in this class, I won’t get into my major.”; “I have never done well in math.”; “I have to get an ‘A’ in this class or I won’t get into medical school.” You must try to challenge those thoughts to make them more rational. For example, say to yourself, “This one test won’t decide my chances for medical school.”; “With the right type and amount of studying and help from my instructor, I can get through this math class.” Corrective reasoning will directly result in reduced anxiety. Other ideas to eliminate irrational thinking:
- Mentally yell “Stop!” when worries or fears cause you to become anxious.
- Accept that you will feel anxious in a test. Accept that you will run into questions you can’t answer, so there is no reason to get upset when it happens.
- Daydream before a test. Fill your mind with pleasant thoughts to push out the anxiety.
- Visualize before a test. Mentally rehearse what it will be like to succeed. Visualize taking the test successfully.
- Focus. If you can’t answer a question, focus your thoughts on answering the next one, not on catastrophizing that you won’t know the remaining questions.
- Praise yourself. Tell yourself “I can do this.” “I’m doing fine.” “One question at a time.” “This isn’t as bad as I thought.” Even if you don’t totally believe what you’re saying, your mind doesn’t really know that. If you think more rational thoughts, you will automatically feel and act in more positive ways, despite your level of belief in what you say. The more you practice thinking rationally, the easier it becomes, and you will eventually believe it.
While not performing well on tests can have negative consequences, it is rare that a student’s life or career is totally ruined by poor test performance. Spend your energy identifying what is creating the anxiety and poor test performance. Talk with instructors and the Academic Resource Center. Find out alternatives for making the grade you need, such as papers, extra credit, etc. Find out alternatives to your current major if current course material is beyond your capabilities.
(S)trategies for Test-Taking
There are test-taking strategies that can help you improve your performance on tests. Ask your teacher for suggestions on taking his/her tests. Work with your study group to find out what techniques they use to perform well on tests - then practice them using tests you create in your study group.
Additionally, consider these strategies:
- Come to the test early, with all materials necessary such as paper, “blue book,” scantrons, plenty of writing utensils, etc. Take some time to relax, stretch, and breathe deeply.
- Listen to music that has a relaxing effect on you as you walk to class or wait in the classroom.
- Don’t do last minute cramming or “obsessing” with classmates before a test. This is guaranteed to increase your anxiety and do little to substantially improve your test score.
- Wear comfortable clothing.
(S)tress Management
Practice stress management on a regular basis and before each test. Stress management includes relaxation techniques, good health habits, and positive self-talk.
- Get adequate sleep before a test. Cramming all night may get you through some tests, but in the long run is ineffective for adequate college performance. And, for some subjects, cramming just does not work to learn the material.
- Eat food with nutritional value, especially the day of an exam.
- Limit your intake of substances that tend to negatively affect your concentration.
- Do a ten-minute relaxation exercise before you leave for a test. This can be visualization, meditation, muscle relaxation, or deep breathing.
- If you run into a tough question during the test, close your eyes, breathe, and think to yourself, “I can do this. Relax.” and resume work.
- Focus on your work, not on what your classmates are doing. Even if some people are working faster than you, it doesn’t mean they are more prepared. It could mean they don’t know the answers and are just putting anything down.
Adapted from https://www.usu.edu/academic-support/test/test_anxiety
College Planning for 9th Graders
- Start keeping track of your extracurricular activities, volunteer work, and academic competitions. This will help form your resume when you take Career & College Essentials.
- Create a 4 year plan. Think about what you’d like to accomplish while at Fox Chapel. Start researching what courses are required by the colleges you may want to one day attend. Schedule a meeting with your counselor to discuss course tracks and options.
- Save for college! It’s never to early to start saving!
- Explore summer opportunities—whether it’s volunteering, a part-time job, or shadowing/interning—maximize your opportunities during summer to further explore your career interests.
- Focus on academics—try to earn the best grades possible! Colleges and universities tell us they still look at a student’s transcript 1st when they’re determining if a student is the right “fit.”
- Get to know your high school counselor! We’re here to help support you socially, academically, and career-wise as you journey through high school!
Download your free College Planning Guide by clicking here
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DON'T MISS OUT: GET IMPORTANT UPDATES FROM THE COUNSELING OFFICE
Get important information and updates from the Counseling Office right on your phone.
Receive texts or notifications through remind:
For text messages:
Send a text to 81010 with the following message:
- For 9th grade students and parents-@oh2025
- For notifications:
Download the remind app, tap join a class and search by the same remind codes above.
Your 9th Grade Team:
9th Grade Administrator
- Mrs. Tenisha Williamson
9th Grade Counselor
- Mrs. Crystal Laws
Social Worker
- Ms. Latasha Brown
Career and Development Coordinator
- Mr. Nick Montgomery
Career Coach
- Ms. Tiffany Robinson (Durham Tech)
School-Based Therapist
- We also have a full-time school-based therapist in our building! Families interested in learning more about how this works or getting connected with this service should contact your student's school counselor for more information and/or a referral.
THE ROLE OF THE OHS SCHOOL COUNSELOR
The Orange High School counselors are here to assist students in achieving success in all aspects of their lives. We encourage students to book an appointment to come ask questions, seek information, and get support when needed. We are here to provide individual guidance on academic, personal, extracurricular, and post-secondary options. Each counselor serves a portion of the high school. Currently, Ms. Laws serves the freshmen caseload of 420 students. Therefore, it is imperative that we make an appointment to ensure that you or you student can been seen by Mrs. Laws.
The counseling offices are directly behind the main office.
Counseling office hours are: 8:30am-4:15pm on regular school days.
If you need to schedule a counseling session with the 9th Grade School Counselor please use the You Can Book Me Link
Orange High School
Email: crystal.laws@orange.k12.nc.us
Website: https://www.orangecountyfirst.com/ohs
Location: 500 Orange High School Rd, Hillsborough, NC 27278, USA
Phone: (919) 732-6133